"Live Aloha" Top 5 Page for this destination Molokai by counsel1956

On the flight from San Francisco to Honolulu the Respiratory Therapist sitting next to me struck up a conversation and, upon learning we were bound for Moloka'i remarked "Oh, that'll be boring". We spent the first two and last nights on Oahu (pop. 1 million) at Waikiki and five nights on Moloka'i, including a day trip by ferry to Maui (pop. 160,000).
Moloka'i (pop. 6,800) is bucolic, it is also beautiful and the people there I can only describe as living in a state of serene grace. They are imperturbable. They are always genuinely glad to see you, there is no artifice to them. I never saw a troubled or concerned look on the face of a single person. They are almost always smiling and frequently laughing. It is the birthplace of the hula, according to legend, has the highest percentage of ethnic Hawaiian population and has traditionally been regarded as the most spiritual island, with the best and most powerful manna.
Honolulu reminded me of LA. Freeways with traffic gridlock for several hours each morning and evening. Concrete canyons that looked like Myrtle Beach in a bad dream. North Shore Oahu is much nicer and less dense. Haleiwa is just plain cool. As a surfer since 1968 I had always longed to see Waimea Bay, Sunset, Pipeline, they are pretty but were flat. No waves in August. Maui reminded me alot of Myrtle Beach, oceanfront resorts lined up to the horizon but nowhere near as dense as Waikiki.
As you can see from my other comments I am in love with Moloka'i. The only down side is the isolation. Paradoxically I believe that the isolation is the reason it remains so undeveloped (no three story building or traffic light on the island). It has much in common with the out islands of the Abacos in that you have a sense of being both way out in the country and way out in the ocean simultaneously. A major difference is the elevation, the Abacos are flat as a pancake and the Hawaiian Islands are mountainous.

• Pros:Beautiful people (in terms of attitude), beautiful scenery, uncrowded, unhurried
• Cons:isolated, remote, hard to get to and from
• In a nutshell:Bucolic splendor